Today the National Bee Unit confirmed that Asian hornet workers have been positively identified in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. A 3-mile surveillance zone has been established and teams of bee inspectors are endeavouring to locate and destroy nests in the area.

This is the first confirmed detection of Asian hornet on the UK mainland. Earlier this year Asian hornets were confirmed on the Channel Islands.

The Dunfermline and Fife beekeepers attended the annual Kinross Agricultural Show on Saturday 13th August 2016. We arrived on the Friday morning to set up our marquee but were met by strong and blustery winds which made it impossible to set up the stall and safely leave it overnight. However, the forecast for show-day was good and we were not disappointed when we returned early on the Saturday morning. Our dedicated team under Enid’s direction soon set to and we had everything in place with 2 well stocked observation hives. The show was a great success with many visitors to our stall. We were kept busy all day answering enquiries and explaining the work of the Fife and West Fife associations. The 2 observation hives attracted a lot of interest and a model comb set up as a jigsaw with parts to represent what is seen on the comb was a favourite with visiting children and their parents. At the end of the show we were delighted to be presented with a certificate and bottle of wine for the ‘best small trade stand’ exhibit.
Thanks to Enid for supplying all the materials and observation hives and to our helpers Liz, Sheila, John, Jeff, Janice, Kay and Bob. ……………..

As many of you know, I have been using a group of volunteers for a number
of years to monitor various sites in which feral colonies of honey-bees are
continuing to live despite the spread of Varroa throughout most of Scotland.

Sadly, one of these sites has now been lost. The tree in which the bees were
living near the River Nairn had become unstable, and it was judged to be a
public danger and felled. Those who had been monitoring the site were
quickly alerted to the situation, and within a few hours of the tree
coming down,
they went there to rescue the bees.

A year or two ago, I was sent a small sample of bees from this colony to
do some wing morphometry on, and from the characteristics of the
venation pattern on their wings, it appears likely that they are largely
of the Carniolan race. These have a reputation for mild temper, and
the behaviour of the bees while they were being rescued would
certainly confirm that for this stock.

Those carrying out the rescue have made a most interesting video
of their proceedings, and I hope you will enjoy watching it on
Youtube via the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QaLs4Qwd_E
Ann Chilcott, who was the leader of the rescue team,
has said that she would like this to be widely circulated among interested
beekeepers, so feel free to share it with you beekeeping friends. It
has many useful lessons for others who may be faced at some time
with a similar problem.

Magnus Peterson

]]>448Information from the National Bee Unit.http://www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk/?p=439
Wed, 20 Apr 2016 09:29:18 +0000http://www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk/?p=439Continue reading "Information from the National Bee Unit."]]>Food stores
Beekeepers may wish to monitor their colony food levels closely over the next month as in many northern parts of the UK, the weather is still cold and foraging opportunities for large colonies are few and far between. It is important to check and monitor all your colonies feed levels, if you do not wish to open them up, lift below the floor, in turn, on both sides of the hive to see how much it weighs. Where the hive is light, liquid feed should be applied directly above the bees. Remove any supers from above the brood box which are empty or have few bees in them. This will help the bees get to the food quickly; Feed can be sugar and water mixed at 1:1 ratio or one of the proprietary ready mixed syrups available from Beekeeping Equipment Suppliers. More information about mixing up sugar can be found in the Best Practice Guidelines no. 7 http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167 Fondant can also be used. Large starving colonies of bees will take 1 gallon (approx. 5 Litres) of syrup very quickly while smaller colonies will take half a gallon (approx. 2.5 Litres). After feeding, heft the hives again and check the weight and if in doubt feed some more in a few days’ time.

Some colonies in northern areas of the UK have low levels of pollen, which is essential for brood production. If this is the case, then some form of pollen patty will need to be given to colonies which should be placed directly above the brood nest, after you have fed any syrup.

Mite levels
Some of you may not have gotten round to treating your colonies with oxalic acid as the weather was so mild in winter. Treatments that were applied in winter may have had lower than normal efficacy due to the presence of brood and therefore beekeepers may want to consider treating colonies again, especially where bees are showing signs of deformed wings. Thymol based products and formic acid pads may be ineffective at the present time as daytime temperatures respectively of 12-15 °C or above are recommended. Neither should MAQS strips be used on smaller colonies.

Therefore contact strips such as Apistan or Bayvarol may be beneficial, these offer a rapid knock down in severely infested colonies. However, resistance to these products has been reported in some areas and therefore colonies will need to be monitored after the treatment and an alternative treatment applied if necessary later in the season.

Alternatively, Apivar & Biowar (Amitraz) are available under the EU Cascade system by using a special import certificate. For more information about this, contact your local vet.

First, our summer programme – print out and pin on your notice board and/or write into your diary. It will also be on the website. You will see that as a general rule FBA meet 2pm on Saturdays and DWF 2pm on Sundays though there are a few joint demos which are the exception to the rule. Beginners are welcome to all meetings of their association except those for Intermediates.

We will email before noon on the demo day if it is cancelled, so keep your eye on your emails if weather looks uncertain.

Honorary Life Membership: both DWF and FBA have awarded Iain Steven life membership, in recognition of the many years of service he has put into both associations, as well as being a rock and past president of the SBA. Here is a picture of him receiving the DWF award:

East Neuk bumblebee ID training day, Thursday 9 June, at Comielaw Farm, Pittenweem, indoor session in the morning and field exercise in the afternoon, finishing about 3.30pm. Contact Yvonne Stephan (Yvonne.Stephan@rspb.org.uk) if you’d like to book a place.

Newspaper articles that caught the editor’s eye:

12 Nov 2015, The Times, Oliver Moody, science correspondent: Stone Age settlers had a taste for honey. Bees are among mankind’s oldest and closest friends, according to a study that has found that ancient farmers were using honey and beeswax at the dawn British agriculture…. Scientists have now found evidence that Stone Age settlements were taking honey out of beehives 9000 years ago, and that bees have been in this country for much longer than was thought … Fragments of Neolithic clay pots found beneath Eton rowing lake had demolished arguments that the Romans had brought honeybees to Britain ….They analysed 6.400 pieces of Stone Age pottery from more than 150 archaeological sites (in Ancient Europe and Turkey) and found that 81 had beeswax residues….

3 February 2016 The Daily Telegraph, Hana Carter:

The honeybee weather forecast. Honeybees may be able to predict the weather to help plan their workday and avoid downpours. The discovery was made …. after attaching radio-frequency identification tags to 300 worker bees. The bees spent more time out of the hive foraging and stopped work later in the afternoon when the following day was a rainy one. They seemed to be responding to changes in humidity, temperature and barometric pressure that precede rainstorms…

He ran a team of dragonfly volunteers for twenty-five years, and nowbroadcasts, writes and talks about dragonflies. His latest dragonflybook, The Dragonfly-Friendly Gardener, has just been published. He’sconvinced that everyone needs to know at least something about dragonflies, and their importance to the environment.

at Portmoak Hall Scotlandwell

on April 7th 2016 at 7.30 pm

All are welcome. tea, coffee , & home baking is included in the entrance Fee

Entrance Fee

DWF members & other BKA members £1

None members.. £5

further information contact Liz Wyatt dwfsec15@gmail.com

]]>397http://www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk/?p=392
Wed, 23 Mar 2016 19:26:15 +0000http://www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk/?p=392Stings & Emergencies; siting an apiary (2)
]]>392AGMhttp://www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk/?p=381
Tue, 01 Mar 2016 19:07:31 +0000http://www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk/?p=381The Dunfermline and West Fife Beekeepers will be holding their Annual General Meeting at 19:30 on the 3rd of March at Portmoak Hall.
This will be a short affair and will be followed by a talk from Margaret Lear on